Homeport perch

[J.A. Veil]

I have been perch fishing in the Severn for the past few weeks. The pervasive mahogany tide started leaving a week ago, then came back again in force this week. I am finding a few perch here and there, but it takes a great deal of looking. The water color is not good, and there are many areas that are overloaded with SAVs, making casting difficult.

This morning I launched at the Homeport Farms launch into Church Creek on the South River. I spent 90 minutes trolling paddletails out to the river, into Crab Creek, and back to Church Creek. I caught five small stripers and two perch. Once back in Church Creek, I put the paddletail rods away and picked up a light rod with a Bignose spinner. I looked for shady shorelines, particularly those that had some fallen wood or overhanging trees. The perch were quite accommodating. I caught 23 of them in about half an hour, and often caught multiple perch from the same spot (not what I am seeing in the Severn). Many were good eating size and fat (although I do not keep perch myself). I had worked most of the way back to the launch when it started raining. I tucked in against a bulkhead with an overhanging tree and stayed mostly dry. After ten minutes, the rain had not stopped, and now I was hearing some thunder. I paddled quickly back to the launch, loaded up, and went home.

The water color in Church Creek was brown (a muddy brown, not the reddish brown I am seeing in the Severn). I did not have to contend with large areas of floating grasses either. The perch fishing was easy and productive. Hopefully the mahogany tide will vacate the Severn so I can have similar catching close to home without hauling my kayak up a big hill at the end of the trip (part of the Homeport workout program).

I will add a few words about the Bignose spinners that Snaggedline member Stu Sklar makes. I have been using them as my primary perch lure for a bunch of years. I tie on a Bignose spinner and leave it there until it breaks off or until some component wears out. The one I have been using for the past few weeks has caught more than 100 perch and has lost most of its hair and flash. Even in its nearly-bald state, it attracts perch. Whether you use a Bignose or some other variety of small safety-pin style spinner (small spinnerbait), they are very effective on perch.

[bignose]

After the hair falls out, you can put a little curly tail on as a trailer.
Why let a little lack of hair make the lure less attractive to the fish? Lol

[john from md]

That Homeport hill can be a real bear. I have taken to only using my small yak there because, with the big one, I have to make several trips or it is too heavy. One time my kart came loose when a bungee broke. Without it I couldn't secure the kart well enough to pull and wound up turning the yak around and pushing it up the hill.

[mike o]

Good to hear there are some perch around unfortunately broke the hook off my only big nose spinner unhooking a good sized channel cat.

[bassguy84]

My favorite perch lure is a beetle soon with a Gump 1" minnow. I am interested in these big nose lures though. Nice to add a couple of new toys.

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[Big Mike]

Usually I don’t keep fish but wanted Some fresh fish so I went perching in Breton Bay. BB is like Cheers for me, I know every spot in it, it’s an easy place to fish, and it can throw surprises at you to keep it interesting. I take a different approach for perch, use big lures to catch big perch. I hate dealing with 6” finger stabbers. Here’s what I caught many on today.



Even though many are on shore now there’s just as many hanging on off shore structure. Even with this size lure I have to deal with small perch, just not as many. Vertical jigging, and every now and then don’t be surprised by keeper sized stripers. I also used 3” Gulp cast to pier pilings today with much success.

I try to make different fish preparations since my wife isn’t really a fish fan. I’ve found fish cakes work well. Today I made Cambodian fish cakes, fantastic.



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[J.A. Veil]

Jigging for perch in deeper water can be quite successful, as it was for you today. There are lots of ways to catch fish. You got a good looking meal for your efforts.

[ronaultmtd]

The SMOG crew is used to Big Mike’s culinary skills...he has us drooling over his exotic and delicious chef skills...this is just a teaser...

[rugbyfish]

Nicely done Mike, that sounds like a fun trip. I’ve done a lot of casting to shorelines and drifting fishbites on a bottom rig over oyster bars for perch, but I’d like to give jigging a try one day soon. I had a lot of fun catching short stripers on jogging spoons earlier this year.

[john from md]

I'm set to launch at Homeport tomorrow morning around 0700. Hopefully the water is clear of SAV.

[mike o]

Big Mike that same lure has saved the day for me many times when I couldn't catch them trolling or casting, have gotten a couple nice stripers as well. I also have used it in Florida on mangrove snappers.

[Saltrodder]

Let's hope that the submerged aquatic vegetation stays healthy and widespread as it is an indication of the healthy comeback of our Bay tributaries!

[john from md]

Homeport today in at 0700 out by 0930. Total 1 small perch on a spinner. My fishfinder showed lots of vertical SAV but none of the floating stuff like a couple of weeks ago. There were several other boats catching more small perch but they were using blood worms. It was a nice day on the water and I got some much needed exercise.

[J.A. Veil]

Homeport today in at 0700 out by 0930. Total 1 small perch on a spinner. My fishfinder showed lots of vertical SAV but none of the floating stuff like a couple of weeks ago. There were several other boats catching more small perch but they were using blood worms. It was a nice day on the water and I got some much needed exercise.

Sorry that Church Creek was not more productive. I fished in five different creeks/tidal ponds in the Severn on the past two days. The water quality (i.e., mahogany tide impact) is better than it was a week ago. It is not all the way back to "normal" summer color, but it is improved. The perch are cooperating too. Two of the five tributaries I visited had so much SAV laying across the surface or just under the water level that I consider them unfishable for the time being. The other three had sections where the SAV was an issue, but also plenty of shoreline spots that were not impacted by the SAV.

While fishing in the fishable areas, I caught 20 perch in two hours yesterday and 30 perch in less than three hours this morning -- all on small spinners. It was very obvious that the perch were in shaded areas. When I cast to areas in the sun that otherwise had good habitat, I caught almost nothing. Almost all the bites came in shaded shorelines. This can be regular shadows, overhanging trees/bushes, or under docks or boathouses. While moving between spots today, I trolled some 3" paddletails and caught 4 small stripers. Also keep moving. If you don't get bites in what appears to be a decent spot after 2 or 3 casts, move further along.

[john from md]

There were 3 grandfathers in the shaded areas I usually fish so I had to fish what I could. The other thing was the wind was right down the creek and I could not stay in one spot. It was supposed to be 10mph but I'm sure it was gusting much higher.